GB2216923A - Intruder barrier of coiled form plus an electrical conductor. - Google Patents

Description

j j SECURITY APPARATUS This invention relates generally to a security

barrier and more particularly is concerned with a barrier which may be electrified.

is The applicant is aware of a variety of security barriers which provide a mechanical deterrent, as opposed to ain electrical deterrent. Examples of the aforementioned category of barriers, or techniques which may be incorporated in such barriers, are shown, inter alia, in the specifications of the following patents:

GB: 2114180, 921337, 541916, 887643, 9782E.5 and 2023513 USA: 3902612, 3263830, 4099617, 4367059, 3070946, 290B4S4 4484729, 3155374, 3972510 and 4119301 German: 1215029 Austrian: 63424 Many of these barriers have been designed for rapid erection, and subsequent recove-y, and so lend themselves to being mounted on a vehicle or trailer for transport to a place of use, and easy deploymeent.

-Certain barriers make use of concertina type ccils of barbed tape, barbed wire, or other flexible and resilient material which has a deterrent value and which can be compressed for storage, and then extended when required. The coils may be interlaced or interconnected to make the barrier more formi. dable.

Reference is made, for example, to US 3155374, US 4484729, and to the current applicant's, American patent US 4744708.

-1 Electrified barriers on the other hand, are not as easily erected for the electrical conouctors used therein must be m.-unted on insulating supports which, in turn, to the applicants' knowledge, are fixed to, or anchored in, the ground. A second factor to bee taken into account is that it is custcxr,ary to erect a fence or other barrier, spaced from the electrified conductor.s, so that accidental contact with the conductors is unlikely.

The invention is concerned with security apparatus in the form cf a barrier, which makes possible the rapid deployment of a system which can be electrified, and which can easily be recovered, when required.

The invention provides security appa,atus which includes a tubular barrier coil, at least one electrical conductor which is located inside, and which extends in the axial direction of, the barrier coil, and insulating means which supports the e',ectrical conductor frorr. the barrier coil.

The barrier coil may coniprise a plurality of coils of elongate material in end-to-end relationship. The coils may be secured in any suitable manner to one another. Preferably adjacent windings of the coils are tied together at strategic locations. Use may be made of clips, ties or any other suitable means for this purpose.

The elongate material may comprise any suitable material and may for example be plain wire or the like. However it is preferred, in order to enhance the deterrent and security effect of the apparatus, that the barrier coil is made from barbed tape, barbed wire or a similar material.

k> 01 0-1 3 The barrier coil preferably comprises substantially helical windings of barbed tape around an axis. The windings may be 4 from one another along the leng' spaze. Lh of the axis and may be movat'le towards, or away frorr, one another along the length of the axis. Adjacent windings may bee fixed together for exa-nple by using clips.

It falls within the scope of the invention to make use of a plurality of electrical conductors, within the barrier coil althzigh, for most applications, one electrical conductor is adez:-ate. The electrical conductor may extend axially inside the helical windings of barbed tape.

The electrical conductor is preferably axially extensible or retractible together with the tubular barrier coil.

The electrical conductor may include a plurality of spiral ons with linear portions interconnecting adjacent spiral secti sections. In this way the electrical conductor may be extersible or retractible together with the barrier coil. The electrical conductor may alternatively be formed as a continuous helix or spiral by winding the conductor in tubular fas,ion about an elongate axis.

It is highly desirable that the electrical conductor is made frw. suitable material which permits the electrical conductor to be- extensible or retractible in conjunction with the tubular barrier coil.

In one form of the invention the electrical conductor is made frorn barrier material for example barbed tape, barbed wire or the 1 ike. In a preferred embodiment the electrical conductor is made substantially in the same way as the tubular barrier coil.

As has been pointed out the electrical conductor is preferably i 4trade from a tensile material which has a resilient characteristic which enables the effective length of the conductor within the barrier to be altered in unison with ariations in the len;th of the barrier coil and which at the saTp- time prevents unwanted sagging of the electrical conductor relatively to the outer surrounding barrier coil.

The insulating support means may comprise a plurality of support devices fixed at regular intervals to the electrical conductor. Preferably the support devices extend between the electrical conductor which is positioned within the barrier coil, and windings of the barrier coil around the electrical cond-Ctor. Each support device may be fixed in any suitable Ct4 way, tying, welding or the like to a respe ve point on the electrical conductor and to a respective pcint on the barrier coil.

The support devices may, themselves, be resiliently extensible and retractible. This ensures that the electrical conductor is at all times adequately supported, bearing in mind that the diane-ter of the barrier coil varies as its axial length is a', te,ed.

The invention also extends to-security apparatus which includes an el, ongate tubul ar arrangement of coiled mater i a], at least lectrical conductor extending axially within the tubular one el arrangement, and insulating means which supports the electrical cond,ctor within the tubular arran.oement out of contact with the coiled material.

According to a different form of the invention there is provided security apparatus which includes a tubular arrangement of coiled material which is axially extensible and retractible-, an electrical conductor inside the tubular arrangement, and insulating means which supports the electrical condictor out of electrical contact with the coiled material k -15 and which permits the electrical conductor to extend and retract together with, and in the axial direction of, the tubu'.ar arrangement.

The invention also provides a concertina coil of barbed tape and a plurality of insulating devices whi.ch are attached to windings of the barbed tape coils at locations spaced frorr one another in the axial direction of the concertina coil.

The invention is further described by way of examples with reference to the accompanying drabings in which:

Figu-e 1 is a schematic side elevation of security apparatus according to one form of the invention, Figure 2 is a cross sectional view, taken transversely to the illustration of Figure 1, illustrating the cross sectional construction of the apparatus of Figure 1, Figu-e 3 is an enlarged view in perspective of portion of an insulating support means used in the apparatus of Figure 1, and Figure 4 is a schematic side elevation, similar to Figure 1, of a second embodiment of the invention.

Figu-es 1 to 3 illustrate the construction of security appa-atus 10 according to one form of the invention.

The apparatus 10 includes an outer. coil 12 of helical barbed tape concertina wire. The outer barrier is made in a convent'ional way by winding barbed tape, which has a resilient 6 inner core, to a helical form and then by securing adjacent windings of the helix to one another at strategic locations. The ties have not been shown for the sake of clarity of illustration. Any other suitable material could be used for the outer. coil The outer barrier coil 12 is axially extensible or retractible, as is indicated by means of a double-headed arrow 13, cand is at all times held in a desired configuration by the ties between adjacent windings. The construction of this type of coil does not, itself, form part of the invention. This type of coil is known in the art and so is not described herein in detail.

An electrical conductor wire 14, which in this example is wound in helical fashion, is positioned inside the outer barrier coil 12, extending in the axial direction of the coil. The conductor wire is preferably made fror- a resilient or tensile material eg. tensile steel wire so that, like the outer coil, it has an inherent stiffness and resilience or springiness.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2 the electrical conduct'.or 14 is secured to the outer barrier coil 12 by m.eans of a plurality of suppc-ting devices 16 which are fixed to windings of the outer barrier coil 10, and to windings of the inner conductor wire 14, at regular intervals.

Figu-e 3 illustrates a poriLion of one of the support devices 16 in enlarged detail and in perpective. The device 16 includes a primary insulating strip 18 which is made from a suitable plastics material such as PVC which has been hardened with an ultra violet inhibitor. Holes 20 formed at opposing ends of the strip 18 have insulating ties 22 fixed to them. These ties are in turn respectively fixed to opposing sections of the outer barrier coil 12 and the inner conductor wire 14, at regular intervals. The net result is that the inner conductor wire 14 is stably supported inside the outer barrier coil. - U 7 The coil 12 and the conductor wire 14 each have a helical-type construction and consequently, by appropriately dimeensioning the two coils and through the correct choice of the number of windings pe.r unit leng-th in each coil, the two coils are extensible, and retractible, in unison. The coil 12 and the conduCtor wire 14 each have an inherent stiffness and resilience which prevents any significant degree of unwanted sagging and this prevents the conductor wire between adjacent suppnrt devices 16 from coming into electrical contact with the outer barrier coil 12.

The security apparatus of the invention, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, is manufactured so that it has a pre-determined length when fully extended. For transport and storage purposes the security apparatus can. of course be compressed, using any suitable technique, in the axial direction. The coils 12 and 14 are then extended, according to need, on site.

A plurality of the assemblies shown in Figures 1 and 2 are used at a security site. The outer barrier coils of adjacent asse.blies, located end-to-end, are mechanically tied to one another for exam.ple using clips, ties or the like.. The inner cond,ctor wires 14 are crimped to one another using copper ferrules or similar conducting fasteners. Thereafter the inner cond.ictor wire 14, which now is continuous along a length or _perimeter which is to be guarded, is electrified using conventional equipment, which is not described herein for it plays no meaningful role in understanding the physical construction of the security assembly.

11 The arrangement described thus far has a number of signi f i cant advantages. In the first instance the outer barrier coil can be made to practically any required size and the inner connector wire, coiled as described, can then be made to fit. The conductor wire is suspended from the spirals of the coiled a barbed tape and consequently follows the route of the outer barrier coil when installed. The need for separate or independent insulators, for supporting the inner conductor wire 14 in a conventional way, is therefore eliminated. As the outer barrier coil 12 has a significant degree of flexibility it is able to follow the 9-adient of the ground on which it is placed and traverse bends or change direction with ease. The inner conductor wire 14 automatically follows the direction of the outer barrier coil at all times. There is no need thus for independently" aligning the conductor wire relatively to the outer barrier coil for this function is achieved autotnatically by rr:-ans of the plurality of support devices 16. The likelihood that the conductor wire 14 can touch the barrier coil 12 accidentally, for example due to wind movement, is largely obviated.

Use can be made of conventional apparatus, for example of the kind described in the applicant's USA patent No. 4744708, for the rapid deployment and easy recovery of the barrier but, clearly, although the barrier is most useful for this type of application it can also be used for more permanent installations.

Through the use of conventional electronic security equipment it is possible to detect any attempted breach of the barrier and fairly accurately pipoint the location of the attempted breach. In addition an electric current can be transmitted to a brea2h point, generating an electric shock, which repels an intruder.

The ability of the conductor wire 14 to extend or retract in unison with the barrier coil 12 is achieved principally by virtu of the fact that the conductor wire 14 is made from a resilient material which is coiled e.g. by being wound in helical form to a shape which possesses similar properties to the outer coil 12. A similar effect may however be achieved in 1 1 V 9 the way shown in Figure 4 which schematically shows an inner condictor wire 14A forTned from tensile wire which is wound with a plurality of spiral or spring formations 24 which are separated by rrr--ans of linear portions 26. The spiral formations 24 permit axial variations in the length of the inner condL;ct-or, in unison with changes in the length of the outer barrier coil, much in the manner already de-scribed.

It is to be noted that Figures I and 4 illustrate embodiments of the invention which make possible the rapid and temporary deployment of the barrier of the invention. On the other hand if the barrier is installed at a site which permits the barrier to t>-- adjusted, and barrier movement thereafter is minimal, e.g. at a permanent or semi- permanent site, then the electrical conductor could be a non-coiled length of wire.

The security barrier of the invention has the important advantage that the barrier coil 12 provides a significant and visual deterrent effect. It is therefore extremely unlikely that an innocent party would penetrate the barrier coil sufficiently to touch the conductor wire 14, and so t>.shocked. It therefore becomes m:)re likely that persons who are shocked are, in fact, intruders.

At little extra cost the conductor wire 14 may 'itself comprise a concertina helical coil of barbed tape or the like. Thus an inner physical barrier is provided which has a similar deterrent effect to the outer barrier coil. The inner coil will obviously, in addition, be electrified and so possess electric deterrent qualities.

The invention has been described with reference to a particular f orm of construction. Obviously the invention can be implemented in other ways, resulting in different appearances to the illustrated embodiments. The essence of the invention lies in the provision of an electrical conductor inside a coil which has physical deterrent properties in such a way that tne electrical conductor is at all times safely supported inside the outer coil and is prevented frorn inadvertently coming into contact with the outer barrier coil. The electrical condL;,,t)r is in addition capable of moving axially in unison with the outer barrier coil, whether for extension or retraction of the entire assembly.

As t_he length of the outer barrier coil is varied, by extension or retraction in the axial sense, the effective diameter of the helical coils also changes, reducing with axial extension and increasing with axial retraction.

To p-event the conductor wire 14 from being unnecessarily stressed, or from sagging, as a result of the barrier coil's diwieter changing, the support devices 16 may, themselves, be axially variable in length and, for this purpose, the ties 22 may for example be formed as spirals from a resilient material i.e. the ties could be helical springs. The devices 16 thus change in length, as the barrier coil.

111 0

Claims (13)

1. CLAIMS il 1. Security apparatus which includes a tubular barrier coil, at

   least one electrical conductor which is located inside, and which extends in the axial direction of, the barrier coil, and insulating means which supports the electrical conductor from the barrier coil.
2. 2. Security apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the barrier coil is made from barbed tape, barbed wire, or a similar material.
3. 3. Security apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the barrier coil includes substantially helical windings around an axis and along the length of the axis, the windings being movable towards, or away from, one another along the length of the axis.
4. 4. Security apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the electrical conductor is extensible or retractible in the axial direction of the barrier coil.
5. 5. Security apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein the electrical conductor includes a plurality of spiral sections with linear portions interconnecting adjacent spiral sections.
6. 6. Security apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein the electrical conductor is a continuous spiral or helix.
7. 7. Security apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein the electrical conductor is made from barbed tape, barbed wire or a similar material.
8. 8. Security apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7 I;- 19 wherein the insulating support means includes a plurality of insulating support devices each of which is fixed to a respective point on the electrical conductor and to a respective point on the barrier coil.
9. 9. Security apparatus according to claim 8 wherein each support device is resiliently ext-ensible and retractible.
10. 10. Security apparatus according to claim 8 or 9 wherein each support device includes two flexible ties joined together by means of an insulator.
11. 11. Security apparatus which includes a flexible, axially extensible and retractible, elongate barrier of substantially is tubular outline, a flexible, axially extensible and retractible, electrical conduct_or of substantially tubular outline extending axially within the elongate barrier, and insulating means which supports the electrical conductor within the tubular elongate barrier out of contact therewith.
12. 12. Security apparatus which includes a tubular arrangement of coiled material which is axially extensible and retractible, a coiled electrical conductor inside the tubular arrangement, and insulating means which supports the electrical conductor out of electrical contact with the coiled material and which permits the electrical conductor to extend and retract together with, and in the axial direction of, the tubular arrangement.
13. 13. A concertina coil of barbed tape and a plurality of insulating devices which are attached to windings of the barbed tape at locations spaced from one another in the axial direction of the concertina coil.

    Published 1989 at The Patent Office.State House, 66,71 ILghHolbornLondonWCIR4TP.Further copies maybe obtainedfromThePatent Office. 8ales Brancb, St Mary Cray. Orpington, Kent BR5 3RD. Printed by Multiplex tecbniques ltd, St Mary Cray, Kent, Con. 1/87 1 Ir